In the electronics industry, electrical connectors are mounted to printed circuit boards, such as by right angled mounting, for electrical connection to circuit traces on the boards. Typically, the electrical connectors are mounted onto the printed circuit boards by automated methods, and the electrical connections are made by soldering the connector terminals to the circuit traces on the boards, by reflow or IR methods for example. The connectors may include some form of locking or retention feature to hold the connectors to the boards and, in addition, may include a commoning feature to ground a shield or other component of the connector to a ground trace on the board, often by insertion of a commoning element through a plated-through hole in the printed circuit board.
One type of electrical connector of the character described above is known in the electrical connector industry as a miniature or sub-miniature D connector assembly. The connector assembly includes a plug connector and a receptacle connector, each having an insulative housing containing a plurality of mating terminals or contacts. In order to shield against RF/EM interference, an exterior metal or conductive shell typically encloses the housings. The shielding shells are effectively grounded to the ground traces on the printed circuit board.
One of the problems in utilizing such miniature connectors in conjunction with printed circuit boards is maintaining proper position of the connector and the connector terminals on the board during processing, as well as maintaining the integrity of the solder joints between the connector terminals and the board during subsequent mating and unmating. In particular, right angle configured surface mount connectors, such as board-mounted subminiature D connectors, are asymmetrical and therefore can rock during the processing of the connector to the underlying board, i.e. prior to being soldered to the board. If the rocking is such that the surface mount tails of the terminals are elevated off of the solder pads during soldering, this can result in open circuits or in the connector falling off of the printed circuit board altogether, ultimately causing damage or breakage.
Furthermore, right angle surface mount connectors which have relatively high mating and unmating forces tend to rock and otherwise compromise the integrity of the surface mount solder joints during such mating and unmating. In some applications, "fitting nails" have been added to connector assemblies to relieve some stress inherent in the surface mount terminals. However, since the fitting nails also are surface mounted onto the surface of the board, they frequently cannot pass a standard pulling strength test in the mating direction and, depending on their orientation with respect to the connector assembly, may cause rocking (and potential open circuits), insufficient ground connections or other related problems. In other applications, through-hole boardlocks have been utilized to hold the connector to the underlying printed circuit board both prior to and subsequent to soldering. However, if the retention forces between the connector and the printed circuit board are high, the insertion forces are correspondingly high and, accordingly, the force applied manually or robotically to insert the connector can cause damage to the connector or to the boardlock if there is misalignment or inaccurate placement.
It therefore is important in surface mount applications, and particularly in right angle surface mount applications, to adequately hold the connector to the printed circuit board both during processing and assembly of the connector to the board and thereafter, to prevent open circuits during soldering and to assure the ongoing connection of each lead to the printed circuit board. The present invention is directed to satisfying that need and solving the problems discussed above.